Witness backs Mayor Quan's claim in Oakland traffic crash

It's starting to seem that Mayor Jean Quan's driving record might hamper her re-election hopes this November more than her political record.

The mayor found herself Monday answering for a minor car crash in West Oakland the previous afternoon that some witnesses said was caused by her running a red light while she was distracted by her cellphone.

The accident occurred at 5:30 p.m. Sunday when another driver struck the side of Quan's city-issued Lexus SUV at the intersection of 26th and Market streets.

Neither party sustained serious injuries, but the incident generated extra attention because it came less than a week after KRON-4 aired footage two nights in a row of Quan using her cellphone while driving.

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At a brief news conference Monday, Quan said it would be up to police to determine if she had run the red light as she was driving between community events. But she insisted that her phone was either in her purse or on the front seat at the time of the crash.

"I was not on my phone," she said. "My phone records will show that."

The mayor's case got a boost Monday from Shawn Vasquez, a 26-year-old security guard, who said he was parked outside a corner store at the intersection when the crash occurred.

"(The mayor) was going through a yellow light, and the other girl was going through a red light," he told reporters outside City Hall shortly after Quan ended her news conference. He also said that Quan "didn't have her phone in her hand at all."

Not only was Quan not solely to blame for the collision, Vasquez said, but she was the victim of taunts from nearby residents, some of whom yelled at her about the Oakland Raiders and other issues unrelated to the crash.

"The neighbors came out and started cursing at the mayor, calling her a bunch of names and stuff," Vasquez said.

While the accident was minor, the fallout could take a major political toll on the mayor.

David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University, said the crash was a political liability for Quan because the electorate has grown fatigued by stories about mayoral slip-ups.

"Does this cost her the election? No," he said. "But she keeps running into a wall of baggage with the voters that she can't seem to shake."

Corey Cook, a University of San Francisco political science professor, said the crash had extra traction because it came on the heels of the KRON-4 report and reinforced accusations that Quan's public statements aren't always accurate. "That's why it has legs," he said. "It fits what her opponents have been saying about her."

Police said Monday that they are investigating the crash, which raised fresh questions about whether Quan is a chronic violator of laws against using a cellphone while driving.

On June 1, a picture emerged of what appeared to be Quan texting behind the wheel. A day later, another picture made the rounds on social media of Quan holding a cellphone to her ear while driving, which is illegal under state law.

Four months before Sunday's accident, the mayor was convicted of running a red light in another incident, according to DMV records.

Quan said the violation, which occurred on April 10, 2013, was the result of a rolling right turn she made at a red light camera-enforced intersection in Fremont. She has no other vehicle violations, according to the DMV.

The other driver in Sunday's crash, identified as Lakisha Renee Lovely, 36, of Oakland, has no traffic violation convictions, according to the DMV. Lovely told reporters Sunday that Quan was at fault in the crash, and so did several witnesses.

"I was outside when it happened. I seen the whole thing," said Margarett Randel, 22, of Oakland. "Mayor Quan passed right through the red light. She wasn't looking where she was going. She was looking down."

Quan's spokesman, Sean Maher, said the mayor hadn't decided whether to release her phone records publicly. The records would only show if she was talking or texting; they wouldn't indicate if she was reading something on the phone.

Vasquez works for a private firm as a downtown Oakland security ambassador, which is a city-funded program to prevent crime in the city center.

Wearing his orange ambassador shirt and riding his patrol bike, Vasquez said he loves the mayor and that he pedalled over to Quan's morning news conference without any prodding to give his account. "I was watching the news," he said. "I felt kind of bad the way things were falling apart."